Barclays Center to host NBA draft

The Barclays Center has been a big hit its first year in Brooklyn.(AP)

Last summer, the Brooklyn Nets got a handful of top-flight free agents, and this year, they’ll be getting the NBA’s entire rookie class…at least for one night.
The league announced Wednesday that the 2013 NBA draft, which will be held on Tuesday, June 27, will emanate from Brooklyn’s Barclays Center, with tickets going on sale to the public on Wednesday, May 22 at 10 a.m.

"We are excited to be holding the NBA Draft in Brooklyn, a borough long associated with great basketball talent," NBA commissioner David Stern said in a statement. "In addition to being a state-of-the-art arena, Barclays Center has quickly become a go-to destination for world class events. We are confident Barclays Center is an ideal venue for introducing the next generation of NBA stars to a global audience."

This will be the third straight year the Nets have “hosted” the draft, as the 2011 and 2012 selection meetings were held at their previous home, the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J. Prior to that, however, the NBA draft had quite a history in New York City; it was held in the Big Apple every year from 1960 through 1991, and after a decade of rotating the draft throughout other NBA cities, the league returned it to Madison Square Garden from 2001-10.

“Many of the borough's greatest all-time players have been drafted into the NBA, making this night a perfect fit for Brooklyn,” Barclays Center and Nets CEO Brett Yormark said in a statement.